The financing was co-led by Advantech Capital and SDIC Venture Capital.
KBP Biosciences closed on a Series A financing worth $76 million. It was co-led by Advantech Capital and SDIC Venture Capital. Sangel Capital, Ping An Ventures, Bay City Capital GF XINDE Life Science Investment Fund, Efung Capital, CASH Capital, Cowin Capital Group, Korea Investment Partners and Elite Capital participated.
The company was founded in 2011 by Zhen Hua Huang in Jinan, China. He has developed a medicinal chemistry platform and preclinical development team focused on cardiovascular, infectious disease, respiratory, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
The company’s lead compound is KBP-5074, a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that will soon be entering Phase IIb clinical trials for cardiovascular disease. It also has KBP-7072, a 3G aminomethylcycline for multi-resistant bacterial infections, which has wrapped Phase I trials and received Qualified Infectious Disease Product and Fast Track designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It also has KBP-7026, a CRTH2 receptor antagonist that targets asthma/COPD with an approved Investigational New Drug (IND) submission that is ready to enter Phase I.
“We are pleased to have attracted this funding from prestigious investors to expand and establish a global presence and maximize the value of our scientific platform and clinical programs,” Huang, the company’s founder and chairman of the board, said in a statement. “We are excited to welcome Brian McVeigh to the company as his leadership skills and experience building and leading multi-national organizations, vast knowledge of the international pharmaceutical industry, track record for delivery and business development acumen will help us grow KBP into a global company with the capability to leverage the programs in our pipeline through external collaborations.”
McVeigh will be the company’s chief executive officer. He was most recently the vice president of Worldwide Business Development Transactions and Investment Management at GlaxoSmithKline.
McVeigh told The Inquirer, “It’s my personal and professional mission to grow and elevate the biotech community in our region. I believe strongly in the quality of research coming out of our universities, and the incredible talent in our pharmaceutical workforce.” The region he refers to is Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. He recently resigned from the board of Life Sciences Pennsylvania, formerly known as Pennsylvania BIO.
The company’s corporate headquarters will be somewhere in the Philadelphia area. McVeigh was also asked if the company will be hiring in the Philadelphia area. He told The Inquirer, “We have a very prolific 50-person preclinical development team in China that has created a pipeline of products—innovative, new chemical entities that treat unmet needs.” So, although it’s a little early to be hiring in the U.S., he does expect there will be positions for management, marketing and testing.
“KBP is an example of a cross border investment which combines a strong China based scientific discovery team led by a successful serial entrepreneur with a U.S. development and commercial team with great experience in finance and strategic alliances,” said Fred Craves, managing director of Bay City Capital, in a statement.
